📂 POST 3: THE FIRST ENCOUNTER (Silent Ridge)

Silent Ridge Incident

FIELD LOG: KELSEY, J. | DATE: OCT 22, 1885

The survey camp was gone. Not burned, not looted—just crushed. The heavy canvas tents had been pressed into the dirt as if a giant had stepped on them. There was no blood, which made it worse. It felt like the earth had simply decided to swallow the men whole.

"Quiet," Silas Beecher hissed, his hand gripping the brass-plated Winchester. "It's still here. It hasn't finished its meal."

[BESTIARY ENTRY: CLASS II SHALE-HOUND]

Observation: Movement resembles a pack hunter. Composition is volcanic basalt and obsidian. It does not 'walk' on the rock; it flows through it.

Weakness: Susceptible to 440Hz sonic interference. Striking the silver fork causes the 'skin' to crystallize, freezing the entity.

Out of the shadows of the lodgepole pines, a shape emerged. It was the size of a bull, but its hide shifted like a bag of broken glass. Every time it moved, it sounded like two mountains grinding together.

I reached into my kit and pulled out the Keely Fork. My hand shook, the mark on my palm throbbing with a violet heat that matched the glow deep inside the creature's chest. I struck the fork against my boot. The hum was so loud it made my teeth ache.

[PROJECT ANVIL: SATELLITE RECON 2025]

Thermal signatures at Silent Ridge remain 15% higher than the surrounding basin.

WARNING: Seismic activity indicates 'Alpha-Pack' Shale-Hounds are still nesting in the sub-strata. Do not deploy ground sensors.